"Shall we go?" Asra's voice pulled me from my trance.

I smiled bashfully, nodding and shifting to the end of the booth. Asra up before I was, his hand outstretched toward me. I gently placed my smaller hand within his, feeling the warm, soft skin of his palm. His fingers wrapped around me, pulling me to stand. He didn't let go, even as we began to walk to the bar. My head spun a little, too overstimulated and tipsy to realise I was standing.

Casually leaning against the bar, I watched Asra as he engaged in small talk with the bar staff. They were young and appeared human, the male uneasy under Asra's harsh gaze. His name tag read Connor, his hair dirty blonde and face speckled with freckles.

"Which table was it, sir?"

"Zenith." Asra quirked an eyebrow. "Twelve."

The young male swallowed as he swiped through a monitor, nodding as he came to the total. Rattling off a number with three figures, I felt the awkwardness settle in as Asra handed him his card. I didn't have any money. How was I supposed to repay him?

"Asra I..."

"I got it." He muttered.

"Was everything alright for you?" Connor asked politely.

Asra cleared his throat, taking his card and receipt with a growl.. "Nothing a few meetings cannot fix."

"Uh... S-sorry? Sir?" His eyes widened.

"Oh, stop scaring away my staff members, boy." Rosa came out, scowling at him.

Asra chuckled, pushing himself from the bar as the short female stood facing him.

"I am not scaring him away, Rosa." Asra smirked, flashing canines. "He asked if everything was okay, and I replied honestly."

"You replied like a man of power, scaring everyone with your beast."

"I am a man of power." Asra scoffed.

I rolled my eyes, nudging him. "Shut up."

His blue eyes lazily drifted to me, a small smirk on his face. "You'd love me too, wouldn't you, Tulip?"

"Listen to your mate and apologise to my staff." Rosa scowled.

Asra glowered at the short woman but drifted his eyes to Connor, who was still stood wide-eyed between the two. "I apologise you misinterpreted my words. The catering was lovely. It is the patrons we need to fix."

Connor nodded, keeping his mouth shut as he stared at him wide eyed. He scuttled away, only to be caught in a small female waitress' arms. She squealed something about Asra being the Continental Alpha, which caused the male's eyes to only widen and his face to fall pale. They both kept sneaking glances as Asra continued to bicker with Rosa.

"Your father's ways have rubbed off on you." Rosa scolded. "I know it has been a long time, but I hope that the old Asra comes back. It has been nice to see you, boy. Don't let the past haunt you."

Asra's playful smirk settled as the atmosphere did, his hand leaving mine. My head snapped to watch him as he spoke in fluent Italian before his arm came to wrap around my waist. Pulling me into his side, I felt flustered as my face pressed into his chest. My arm wrapped around the back of him, fingers clasping onto his shirt.

"It was nice to see you, Ailia." Rosa smiled before disappearing back into the kitchen.

"Ready to go?" Asra hummed, looking down at me.

My head fell back on its own accord, staring up into his night skies. "Home?"

His eyes lit up at the word that left my mouth, a broad grin erupting on his face. "Yeah. I don't want to overwhelm you too much for the first date, you've already met a billion people... and drank far too much."

"I feel perfectly fine."

"You are quiet and tame. That is unusual." He smirked.

I laughed, shaking my head as he led me outside. The cool air nipped at my bare legs and I leaned further into Asra's wolfy-warmth. His arm tightened around me, his other hand buried in his pocket as we left the building. The same sleek car as before pulled up before us and the driver shot out to open the back door. I thanked him, regretfully moving away from Asra to slide myself into the back seat. He was quick to follow, his body pressing against mine almost instantly.

The door shut behind him, and I inhaled sharply as the darkness of the car dulled my senses. There was a divider between us and the driver. I could hardly see through it and make out the outline of the driver's chair as he sat in the front. Asra's body pressed against mine with no space for air. My body hummed, my entire side sizzling with the contact.

His breath smelt of wine as he spoke. "Did you enjoy your evening?"

I smiled, nodding. "I did."

I got to know him a little more, and that meant more to me than a god-given marital status.

"The food?"

"Out of ten?" I quirked an eyebrow.

He chuckled, nodding. "Out of ten."

"Hmm... an eight."

"Only an eight?"

"I'm reserving top spot. Nothing has quite made it there yet." I laughed. "It's a lovely place. I can see why your mum didn't want to give it up."

"It... was an escape for her, for us. She was raised human, Dad was born practically wolf-brained." He snorted.

"I have a question for you."

"Another one?" He mused.

I rolled my eyes. "A serious one, about when we met."

He sobered up, nodding with a blank expression. "Okay..."

"Why did you seem to hate me? Hate humans?"

He hesitated, and I could see his mind malfunctioning as he thought of what to say. Eventually, after only the silence of the soft radio playing and tires turning, did he move. His shoulders rose as he inhaled deeply before he let it all out in one big breath.

"I suppose you deserve an explanation for my distance."

I quirked an eyebrow at his description but kept quiet, not wanting to disturb him from actually opening up to me.

"I hated humans."

Okay, I can't keep quiet. My mouth moved ahead of my brain.

"Why would you? You were practically raised by them!" I scoffed.

His hand fell to my knee, squeezing it. I looked back at his expression and saw a slight pain in the edge of his eyes. His face was lightly pinched, his lips pulled up in a sad smile.

"I was. My whole life I was around humans, but then life happened. My mother perished because humans couldn't keep their noses out." He sighed.

"I thought rogues killed her?"

"They did." He winced. "She worked in that restaurant for forty years before people realised she wasn't human. She didn't look a day over thirty, and even though wolves had created a 'peace', they were still upset about a wolf being so close to their homes. When they found out she was an Alpha's Luna, it caused them to get... rowdy."

"Rowdy?" I frowned. "How could her running a restaurant in peace cause so much aggravation?"

"It's human land. They are very picky about what is theirs when they hardly have much."

I quirked an eyebrow. "A bit like two coins for work, huh?"

His eyes narrowed playfully, and before I could react, he moved to nip my ear. I gasped, my heart picking up speed as his lips lingered longer than necessary.

"I believed for a long time that humans were weak, insufferable vermin. Constantly moaning, creating mess and disorder." He continued. "Then when my mother died, they seemed to be happy about it. And then, I saw how a mate bond can affect someone when it is broken. How it weakens you."

"Your father is still around here, isn't he?" I cocked my head, my chin brushing his.

"He is. But he is a different man. He pushed me to breaking point and back many times before his soul retired, crushed at the hands of the mate bond." Asra sighed. "He never showed emotion. He was always this tough Alpha. Never cared much for children, not a parent type. So, seeing him lose it over a bond... Human's are weaker, more likely to die. It made me never want to experience that."

I understood now; how the world closed off Asra's heart. He lost his mother to selfishness, and it caused his father's soul to spiral into darkness. If a man as strong as his father can lose his mind because of a bond, then Asra would want to stay clear of it.

"But then I stumble across my very own mate bleeding to death during a hunt."

"Wolves aren't meant to kill humans." I pointed out. "You need to control your pack."

He chuckled, his breath fanning my cheeks. He was so close to me, so, so close. I could see all the small imperfections on his face; the scar above his eye, the one on his cheekbone, the dimple in his cheek when he smiled. I could see the depth of his deep midnight eyes, the way they turned lighter around the pupil. Each of his long, dark lashes framed his face and his lips parted just enough for me to want to lay my mouth on his...

"And what did I do?"

"Save me?" I wondered. "Obviously."

He smirked, watching me intently. "I never wanted a mate, yet I find mine dying at the hands of my pack. It did something to me. How silly, how fragile, you were to be a leader of us, I thought. I was arrogant and selfish... I healed you up intending to let you go, but then... I saw you on that bed and I couldn't. tried to push you away, to protect both of us. But, I couldn't let my mate, who was a bag of bones, go out into that world and have any beast harm her..."

My heart leapt into my throat but he continued.

"And then more and more, as the weeks went on, I found myself watching you. And not just your strange nudist human habits." He finished.

I nudged him with my knee, causing his eyes to drop to my mouth as I laughed. Asra had his reasons before we met. He was a different person, scarred by his past and his terrors. He was an animal. We were a different species. I would be lying if I didn't say I hated him and his kind when we met, so I couldn't be hypocritical.

"But the more I saw, the more I liked." He muttered.

"You mean my nudist human body?" I teased.

"That is just a plus." He counteracted, chuckling. "You grew on me. I never thought I would be so possessive. I took a chance on it."

"A chance?" I wondered, changing my tone. "Why am I a chance?"

He licked his lips, his tongue briefly brushing against my cheek. "Not you. The bond. I thought it would weaken me, and it only seemed to strengthen me. Even when you were taken by Blake, I felt distraught, but I never felt so strong and determined. It is incredible what a bond can do."

"And me?" I whispered, taking a chance.

His eyes burned into my own, holding me captive. "I never realised how much you had grown on me. You had wormed your way into my heart and I never wanted to let you go."

"Asra..." I mumbled.

He moved closer, his eyes dropping to my lips. "Ailia... I'm..."

"Yes..."

Ever so slowly, his lips brushed against mine. My breath hitched, eyes closing at the faint glimmer of sparks ran down my spine. I sighed, pressing my mouth deeper into his and encouraging him further. His hands moved, grabbing my face as he took my motive and deepened the kiss. Our mouths moved slowly at first, but as the burning grew in my abdomen, so did the pressure of his kiss.

He groaned, hands snaking down my waist to grab onto my thigh. He pulled, dragging me over his lap as though I weighed nothing, his mouth never leaving my own. My thighs clasped at his own, my core grinding over the noticeable tent in his pant. My head grew dizzy as his tongue slipped its way through my lips, tasting me, testing my limits.

I felt my pulse quicken, felt the burning wetness between my thighs as I clenched around empty air. I moaned, grabbing onto his shirt, his arms, his shoulders. The wine settled my brain into a tizzy, the mate bond clawing at me for dear life. It burned where we touched, hummed where his body pressed against mine.

His hand snaked under my dress, grabbing handfulls of my waist and hips. I felt his skin sear me, felt the bruising crush of his strength set on fire to my body. His lips left my neck, and I panted in ecstasy, my head falling back as his lips sucked at my throat. They skimmed my mark, my body burning in such a strange way.

I whined, clutching at his hair and forcing his face further into my mark. I ground into him, my core brushing against his tight suit. His hot, wet tongue lapped at my mark, causing me to moan and cry his name. Asra growled, the vibrations shooting down to my core. His hands pulled me, rocking me against his hard length until I felt a strange build-up of pleasure. It burned and burned until suddenly...

I cried with surprised glee as my body shattered, my pussy clenching on air as it seemed to melt into oblivion. Is this what pleasure was? Is this why so many people enjoyed sex?

Asra's tongue slowed on my mark, kissing the underside of my jaw as I shook with the comedown of a skydive.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, mouth brushing against my ear.

I shakily nodded, my hands loosening their grip and my spine curving, until I relaxed against him. He chuckled, wrapping both of his arms around my back as he just held me.

"That was unexpected." I muttered.

I could feel the beam of pride without even looking at him. "I am glad."

I couldn't fight the laugh, fuelled on an orgasmic wine-filled high. Asra pushed me back slightly, a hand brushing my hair behind my ear to cup my cheek and jaw. He observed me, his eyes dark and nostrils wide. I caught a glimpse of his canines in his mouth and still felt the intense growth that lay beneath his trousers.

"We arrived home a while ago. Can you walk inside?" He wondered.

I sighed, fighting to calm my heart. "I think so..."